Welcome folks to our second week of Big Brother Analysis for Season 10. This weekly article is not a recap of the episodes, live feeds, BBAD or any other “play by play” of the action, but rather a discussion about the show and its wacky characters. Unlike pretty much every other reality show, success or failure on Big Brother is almost always a result of interpersonal relationships between the houseguests as it is really just a “popularity contest” or is often the case, an unpopularity contest. Each week we’ll look at different strategies houseguests are using in their “social game,” evaluate its effectiveness in the house, and sometimes ponder how that strategy would work in real life.

This weekly article is about personalities in the house, and I wasn’t sure whether to focus on Steven (as it will be our only chance to focus on him, absent some wacky – vote them back in twist) or Jessie, who as Head of House had his personality on parade all week. It was hard to pay attention to anyone, even crazy socialite Renny and Portuguese Princess Michelle with all the flexing, strutting, and watching himself in a mirror that Jessie does every day.

Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful. Don’t Think I’m Dumb Just Because I’m Muscular. Do it because I’m actually not bright.

People who show their true colors too early on Big Brother are usually at risk for being an early boot. Brian was an example of this last week. Occasionally psychotic newlywed chef Nicole in Season 2 was an exception because she was targeted by “chill town” the first week, and managed to survive all the way to the finals (only to lose to Evil Doctor Will). A common approach has been to avoid being the “most” of anything. Jessie wasn’t in any danger this week because he was HoH, but people are not going to forget that he won an award for “Most Vain” (or would that be “Most Vein”) the first opportunity he had.

Jessie has been strutting around, giving displays of his biceps and his one-step ahead only thought process to everyone willing to watch him pose. I laughed my head off when I saw that all of the pictures in the HoH room were of Jessie, not his friends and family. Look how ripped I am in this one. We get it. You have muscles. Please, tell us more about the earth’s most boring topic: Jessie.

Jessie seems so entirely one dimensional, not only his family could make him seem like a decent person. Oh wait, there’s a mirror. Jessie is going to flex and admire himself. It’s annoying. But it told everyone what is important to Jessie (Jessie, looking at Jessie in the mirror, and having people show respect to Jessie). This was the perfect map to tell Renny, Dan, Steven, and anyone else who had previously not shown Jessie undeserved respect or who had in the prior week spoken to Brian what exactly they should do to stay on Jessie’s good side. Here’s a tip: Don’t stand in between him and a mirror.

More Sucking Up, Pronto!

The secret to success in the early weeks of Big Brother is straight out of The Last of the Mohicans movie: “Whatever you do, stay alive.” Daniel Day Lewis isn’t going to come find you (ah shucks), but you can’t win if you’re out of the house. And if you leave before the jury, well, who were you again?

A big part of staying in the house is being on the HoH’s good side the beginning of the week (and the end of the week if there is a chance for a tie vote, for people on the block). Renny knew that and laid low. She may be a complete loon, but she’s not dumb.

Another big part of surviving the week is finding out what motivates the HoH. Jessie is so transparent; he would make a really lousy pair of window blinds. Dan figured it out and started sucking up the first day of Jessie’s reign as HoH. Dan’s pathetic groveling didn’t keep him off the block, but it did drop him in the esteem of everyone else in the house to the point that he wasn’t viewed as a threat. Dan took his “show of weakness” so far that he jumped to be the first out of the veto competition. Apparently Dan didn’t realize that if he’d tried and won the veto, he wouldn’t be on the block anymore and could stop licking Jessie’s boots for the rest of the week. Maybe he had started enjoying it. Yummy, shoe leather.

Steven was not as willing to jump on the Jessie Love Train as soon as the HoH competition was over, and didn’t rush up to see the 1,000 pictures of Jessie all oiled up hanging in his HoH room the night that it was revealed. Jessie was very cognizant of the slight. Apparently 11 people in that room at the same time all admiring the same pictures of someone that is right there living with them just wasn’t enough. Despite his claims that he was “sleeping” we know that Steven was just not that excited about sucking up to Jessie, and we applaud him for it.
• Dignity – yes.
• In good graces with the HoH on an ego trip – nope.
• As a result, he’s out of the house before the jury.
So long, cowboy. We hardly knew ya.

This Slop Is Making Me Crazy (The New Twinkies Defense)

We need to also mention Libra this week because she is playing a different kind of game entirely. She was so angry that her food competition team included both Jerry and Renny that Libra completely overlooked the fact both performed really well in the competition. As if anyone had any doubt that that Renny knew how to fill a glass of wine, please. Libra spouted off her wild blame-meistering loud enough to really alienate Jerry and Renny. So much for Libra getting a letter of appreciation from the AARP for her positive relations with the elderly in a public forum. Not as bad as Adam’s comments last season about the kids he used to work with, but still, these are people you’re living with: show some restraint if not respect.

Libra’s purported reason for her age-related rants were that she’s now been on slop for two weeks. So when Libra is picked to compete in the Power of Veto contest, she is given the opportunity to win a SLOP PASS and get to eat real food, but she declines to even try for it. Why? Is it because she really wanted to win the POV to save either Dan or Steven? No. Is it because God himself had picked her to try her hardest for the Power of Veto (Jamica)? No. There is no reason for her to not take the slop pass except – the slop has made her crazy. Someone get this woman some food. She’s lost all touch with reality.